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Best Cost Effective Internet stick in the US...

Hey guys,

Been a long time that I've wandered the Howard Boards... Maybe you guys can help me out as you've always done in the past.

Some relatives are going to spend a few months in Florida (lucky them!). They asked me if I knew of some Internet providers or Telcom companies that offer pay as you go or month to month plans for internet sticks to hook up to their laptops at really reasonable prices.

They wouldn't need much, just 1-2GB of data a month. Mostly for VOIP stuff and some browsing.

I briefly looked around the popular sites (T-mobile, Virgin...), maybe someone knows something better or more cost savvy in the Miami / Broward County areas.

Virgin Mobile Pre-Pay....Approx $65 for a stick and $40 unlimited for the month....I am in FL and in the cities and Interstate systems great....It is what most law enforcement uses by the way for the laptops in the cars as well(Sprint).....

Last edited by FloridaCentral; 01-04-2011 at 01:57 PM.
Reason: clarification

Been a long time that I've wandered the Howard Boards... Maybe you guys can help me out as you've always done in the past.

Some relatives are going to spend a few months in Florida (lucky them!). They asked me if I knew of some Internet providers or Telcom companies that offer pay as you go or month to month plans for internet sticks to hook up to their laptops at really reasonable prices.

They wouldn't need much, just 1-2GB of data a month. Mostly for VOIP stuff and some browsing.

I briefly looked around the popular sites (T-mobile, Virgin...), maybe someone knows something better or more cost savvy in the Miami / Broward County areas.

This week at Walgreens they have the Ready Wireless Broadband card on sale for $39.99, it operates on Sprint and they have the monthly cards also on sale.

Cheaper by the month or cheaper upfront costs? The cheapest monthly fees would be to buy a Boost CDMA phone with EVDO that's capable of tethering (many old Sprint phones can be activated on Boost) and put it on the pay-as-you-go plan with $0.35 daily Internet add-on. There's a bit of reading and research involved here, but that's how you get a steal of a deal like this.

The second cheapest monthly fee (and easiest to obtain) would be to get the Virgin Intercept, root it and install wifi tethering for $25/month Internet (and a usable phone as well). There's step-by-step tutorials posted and it's not a painful process.

Finally, if you're okay dealing with a cap, it is still possible to activate at AT&T iPad plan (or even the Galaxy Tab plan) on a new AT&T SIM card. You'll need the IMEI of a tablet (usually they're on display at the stores, so this isn't really that difficult to find) to activate the SIM, and either an AT&T broadband stick or a 3G capable AT&T phone that is easily tethered. You can then just sign up at AT&T's site, configure the proper APN (usually it's "Broadband", with no username/password) and surf away for $25 for 2GB.

If all the hacking/modding/Craigslist browsing is just too much effort (some people enjoy the quest, lol), the $40/mo Virgin hotspot really is the best deal going right now. It won't be as cheap as a used tether-capable Sprint or AT&T phone, but there's no learning curve involved - just turn it on and get wifi.

Don't bother with Clear or T-Mobile. They're both only slightly more useful than driving to the nearest Starbucks. T-Mobile still has towers that provide only EDGE and Clear (if you buy a hotspot without 3G roaming) drops off to absolutely nothing if you leave the coverage area.

Thanks for the input guys. First of all, my relatives really would like to get something for the laptop only; Pay as you go or monthly with no contract. 45$ seems a bit steep, they could get local wired DSL internet for 25$ apparently with a 15$ phone line, although I didn't see that anywhere. That in itself seems less expensive. There might be contractual obligations tied to that though.

Thing is after reviewing with them, it's mostly about VOIP - like magicjack. They're thinking of getting it so they can call back home (Canada) with no extra cost. Again, they won't be using it so much so 1-2GB internet is ok.

Like Snowhite pointed out, Walgreen has deals on on 300mb with readywireless. 300mb would be the absolute minimum they'd use, if they go over - it's 45$. But they'd have to dish out 40$ on top to get the stick.

They did mention they have a a sprint laptop / PCI card (???) from a little while back... Can they do anything with it? Are there cost effective plans with sprint in Florida?

Thing is after reviewing with them, it's mostly about VOIP - like magicjack. They're thinking of getting it so they can call back home (Canada) with no extra cost. Again, they won't be using it so much so 1-2GB internet is ok.

They did mention they have a a sprint laptop / PCI card (???) from a little while back... Can they do anything with it? Are there cost effective plans with sprint in Florida?

VOIP over 3G is problematic at best. I've tried it myself over AT&T's network in areas with good reception and while it does work, latency and dropouts make trying to have a conversation somewhat interesting. They'll really be better off making sure their hotel (or where they will be staying) has WiFi, if VOIP is their main interest.

Boost Mobile has an International add-on which gives you unlimited calling to Canada for $5 over their unlimited plan, so for $55/mo (plus the cost of any Boost phone or Sprint phone that can be activated on Boost) they could skip the computer and use an actual phone for their calls. Again, if they tethered the phone to their laptop, they would have Internet access as well.

As for their existing Sprint data card, someone else can probably chime in on the possibility of having it activated without needing a 2 year contract (which is what most Sprint employees will tell you anytime you try to activate anything). If it's not an EVDO data card (not sure how old it is), it will be horribly slow and might as well be thrown away.

my home 'broadband' connection is through acun.com.. They resell both sprint (the unlimited) and verizon (the 20gb plan). I use the verizon one. You get a free stick this month only. $60 a month for 20gb. I also have google voice setup to use it as a home phone using this connection, never have any problems with it connection wise.

*edit* I know this isn't what you asked. But I posted this for those poor souls like me that actually live too far away for broadband but have decent verizon signal.

I tried T-Mobile wifi calling with various 3G (Virgin, T-Mobile webconnect) and WiMax (clear) services and it works fine.

Originally Posted by gotanmp3

VOIP over 3G is problematic at best. I've tried it myself over AT&T's network in areas with good reception and while it does work, latency and dropouts make trying to have a conversation somewhat interesting. They'll really be better off making sure their hotel (or where they will be staying) has WiFi, if VOIP is their main interest.

Boost Mobile has an International add-on which gives you unlimited calling to Canada for $5 over their unlimited plan, so for $55/mo (plus the cost of any Boost phone or Sprint phone that can be activated on Boost) they could skip the computer and use an actual phone for their calls. Again, if they tethered the phone to their laptop, they would have Internet access as well.

As for their existing Sprint data card, someone else can probably chime in on the possibility of having it activated without needing a 2 year contract (which is what most Sprint employees will tell you anytime you try to activate anything). If it's not an EVDO data card (not sure how old it is), it will be horribly slow and might as well be thrown away.

has anyone used a virgin mobile mifi as their home internet only service? I was thinking of cancelling my home IP and buy a mifi and use it as my everyday all the time service. I figured for $40 a month unlimited it is cheaper then my home service and the bonus of being able to bring it with me seems like a no brainer. My only problem is how does it work? Are the download speeds fast enough? Any interruption in service? Would it seem any different or would you be able to tell you are on a mifi not a wireless dsl modem? Does everything online work the same and will all sites be accessible?

has anyone used a virgin mobile mifi as their home internet only service? I was thinking of cancelling my home IP and buy a mifi and use it as my everyday all the time service. I figured for $40 a month unlimited it is cheaper then my home service and the bonus of being able to bring it with me seems like a no brainer. My only problem is how does it work? Are the download speeds fast enough? Any interruption in service? Would it seem any different or would you be able to tell you are on a mifi not a wireless dsl modem? Does everything online work the same and will all sites be accessible?

Clearwire or Virgin Mobile makes for a sad wireline replacement unless your wireline service is extremely poor. I would never EVER replace a home internet connection with a Virgin Mobile connection. Very unreliable, horrible customer service, problems with billing. Clearwire is just bad all around with the worst network coverage of any network right now.

If you know exactly where they’re going to be, you can try to nail down the coverage question, but I’ll assume they’re moving around southern Florida.

I have had very good results with Verizon prepaid all over the U.S. If it’s just a laptop, I would go with Verizon, $50/month for 1 GB or $80 for 5 GB. I used it when it was 500 MB, and that was enough (with not much headroom) for very similar usage. Btw, my usage included a lot of Skype time, which is very satisfactory, so I would suggest that they go with some combination of calling cards and Skype out to call home.

The VZN network is generally regarded as the best for this kind of application (best coverage, not the best price per MB).

If you want to do some legwork for them, if it’s an old laptop it will take an expresscard. I bought a KYOCERA KPC680 EXPRESSCARD for VZN on ebay for about $10 delivered, and am very happy with it. The USB equivalent, at a guess, is about $20-30 on ebay.

So my suggestion is spend $10-30 on ebay for a Verizon cellular broadband modem, and if they’re really worried about usage, take the $80 for 5 GB plan the first month, then see if they can make do with the 1 GB $50 plan in subsequent months. Maybe it's not the most cost-effective solution, but it's the most bullet proof, and in the context of a 3 month vacation, the extra $30 or $40/month to have the most bullet proof solution with the best coverage is short money.

Sure, it’s not the latest and greatest, but it’s bulletproof, has great coverage, and I can tell you from experience it will do the job.

Unless your only other options are dial-up or < 1Mbit "lite" access, you're better off with DSL or Cable. And while there are those who beg to differ on this forum, wireless broadband is a shared, limited resource and it's a bit selfish to use it as a permanent substitute for a wired connection. This crazy sense of entitlement some people have is what pushed AT&T to do away with their unlimited data plan.